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International PEN Poem Relay

This is the official website of the International PEN China Campaign Poem Relay

Celebrating Linguistic Diversity and Carrying the Torch for Freedom of Expression in China

The poem 'June' by imprisoned Chinese poet and journalist Shi Tao is relaying around the world, country to country, language to language, until it reaches Beijing for the Olympics in August.

PEN Centres around the world have translated 'June' to over 90 (and still counting) of the world's languages.

When the poem arrives at a new location, you can read and hear a new translation.

Originally scheduled for June 19, the Olympic torch will arrive in Lhasa, Tibet on 21 June. It will now stay there for just three hours. Our poem will arrive on the same day, but stay quite a bit longer. Click on the yellow pin to read and listen to it in Tibetan, translated and recorded by International PEN's Tibetan Writers Abroad Centre, based in Dharamsala, India.

The organisers of the PEN Poem Relay express our profound sympathy for the victims of the Sichuan earthquake and call for the Chinese authorities to honour the dead and the survivors by allowing free reportage of all social, political and scientific aspects of the earthquake and its aftermath. We continue to call for the release of all those in China imprisoned for their writing and for free expression for all those living in China.

Red Marker Sydney Centre

Centre info

On 24 April you can watch the
video performance of June in...

Darug Watch the video    

Read and listen to it in...

Arrernte     

And also watch video
performances in...

English Watch the video    
Spanish Watch the video    
French Watch the video    
-33.240516 151.501135
Red Marker Adelaide PEN

Branch info

On 24 April you can read and listen to the poem in...

Adnyamathanha     
Ngarrindjeri     
Polish     
-34.92577 138.599732
Red Marker Afar-speaking Centre

Centre info

On 13 April you can...

Read and listen to the poem in Afar

Afar     

And read the poem in...

French Read the poem    
11.5806 43.1425
Red Marker Afghan Centre

Centre info

On 16 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Pashto     
34.5155 69.1952
Red Marker Algerian Centre

Centre info

On 13 April you can read the poem in...

Arabic     
Arabic     
36.716667 3.183333
Red Marker American Centre

Centre info

On 9 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

English     

Recited by Billy Collins

40.7709218528 -74.0897369385
Red Marker Austrian Centre

Arrival: 31 March 2008

Centre info

Read and listen to the poem in...

German Read the poem    
Viennese      Flash required to play this audio
48.2343468258 16.3823890703
Red Marker Basque Centre

Centre info

On 7 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Basque     
43.2577057398 -2.92819976807
Red Marker Belarusian Centre

Centre info

On 5 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Belarus     
53.967787 27.576555
Red Marker Belgian (Dutch-Speaking) Centre

Centre info

On 7 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Dutch     
51.015236 4.202076
Red Marker Belgian (French-Speaking) Centre

Centre info

On 7 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

French     
50.8371668785 4.36809539795
Red Marker Central Asian Centre

Arrival: 2 April 2008

Centre info

Read and listen to the poem in...

Kyrgyz       Flash required to play this audio
42.8679 74.5984
Red Marker Bosnia-Herzegovina Centre

Arrival: 1 April 2008

Centre info

Read and listen to the poem in...

Bosnian       Flash required to play this audio
43.860751 18.42136
Red Marker Canadian Centre

Centre info

On 9 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Cree     
43.7157828724 -79.493637085
Red Marker Catalan Centre

Centre info

On 12 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Catalan     
Tamazight     
41.387917 2.169919
Red Marker Chechen Writers Centre

Arrival: 3 April 2008

Centre info

Read and listen to the poem in...

Chechen     
43.3091910999 45.6591796875
Red Marker Croatian Centre

Arrival: 1 April 2008

Centre info

Read and listen to the poem in...

Croatian       Flash required to play this audio
45.79695 15.96053
Red Marker Cuban Writers in Exile Centre

Centre info

read and listen to the poem in...

Spanish     
25.833887326 -80.2801895142
Red Marker Czech Centre

Arrival: 1 April 2008

Centre info

Read and listen to the poem in...

Czech       Flash required to play this audio
50.087811 14.42046
Red Marker English Centre

Centre info

On 6 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

English     

(Recited by Juliet Stevenson)

 and read it in...

Welsh Read the poem    
51.528987 -0.110261
Red Marker Finnish Centre

Centre info

On 5 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Finnish     
60.208006 25.082924
Red Marker Galician Centre

Centre info

On 12 April, you can read the poem in...

Galician
42.880447 -8.546303
Red Marker German Centre

Centre info

On 7 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

German     
49.8711850104 8.65310668945
Red Marker German-speaking Writers Abroad Centre

Arrival: 31 March 2008

Centre info

Read and listen to the poem in...

German     
German [2]       Flash required to play this audio
50.940664 6.959911
Red Marker Greek Centre

Arrival: 30 March 2008

Centre info

Read and listen to the poem in...

Greek       Flash required to play this audio
37.97918 23.716647
Red Marker Guinean Centre

Centre info

On 13 April, you can read the poem in...

Poular
11.3164606891 -12.2888946533
Red Marker Hong Kong (Chinese-speaking) Centre

Centre info

On 2 May you can listen to the poem in...

Cantonese     
22.3811904241 114.189491272
Red Marker Hong Kong (English-speaking) Centre

Centre info

On 2 May you can listen to the poem in...

English     
22.208274 114.02882
Red Marker Icelandic Centre

Centre info

On 6 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Icelandic     
64.135338 -21.89521
Red Marker Iraq Centre

Centre info

On 14 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Arabic     
33.319053445 44.384765625
Red Marker Irish Centre

Centre info

On 6 April you can read and listen
to the poem in...

Gaeilge (Gaelic)     
53.356522 -6.372527
Red Marker Israeli Centre

Centre info

On 15 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Hebrew     
32.050279878 34.7610855103
Red Marker Japanese Centre

Centre info

On 26 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Japanese     
35.678451 139.682282
Red Marker Kenyan Centre

Centre info

On 13 April, you can read the poem in...

Swahili
-1.2762 36.7965
Red Marker Kurdish Centre

Centre info

On 3 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Kurdish     
Spanish Read the poem    
38.11581 40.223931
Red Marker Lithuanian Centre

Centre info

On 5 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Lithuanian     
54.6988367357 25.2507019043
Red Marker Macedonian Centre

Centre info

On 4 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Macedonian     
42.0281290285 21.4247131348
Red Marker Melbourne Centre

Centre info

On 24 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Hindi     
Marathi     
Yiddish     
-37.776946 145.018479
Red Marker Mexican Centre

Centre info

read and listen to the poem in...

Spanish     

And read the poem in...

Náhuatl Read the poem    
Tsotsil Read the poem    
Mayan Read the poem    
19.42705 -99.127571
Red Marker Netherlands Centre

Centre info

On 7 April you can read and listen to the poem in...

Frisian     
Dutch     
52.373812 4.890951
Red Marker Nigerian Centre

Centre info

On 13 April, you can read the poem in...

Hausa
Igbo
Yoruba
7.3917 3.8923
Red Marker Norwegian Centre

Centre info

On 6 April you can read and listen
to the poem in...

Nynorsk
(New Norwegian)
    
Bokmål
(Regular Norwegian)
    
59.91382 10.738741
Red Marker Paraguayan Centre

Centre info

On 11 April you can read the poem in...

Spanish
Paraguayan Guarani
-25.2831960128 -57.6600265503
Red Marker Philippine Centre

Centre info

On 23 April you can read and listen to the poem in...

Bikol     
Cebuano     
Hiligaynon     
Kinaray-a     
Matigsalog     
Tagalog     
Chavacano     

And read the poem in...

Iloko Read the poem    
Tausug Read the poem    
14.579 120.9726
Red Marker Polish Centre

Arrival: 31 March 2008

Centre info

Read and listen to the poem in...

Polish       Flash required to play this audio
52.229676 21.012229
Red Marker Portuguese Centre

Centre info

On 12 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Portuguese     
38.707163 -9.135517
Red Marker Romanian Centre

Centre info

On 4 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Romanian     
44.447924 26.097879
Red Marker Russian Centre

Centre info

On 5 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Russian     
55.763711 37.61998
Red Marker San Miguel de Allende Centre

Centre info

read and listen to the poem in...

Spanish     
20.917292 -100.745351
Red Marker Sardinian Centre

Centre info

On 12 April you can read and listen to the poem in...

Sardinian     
Italian     
Catalan Algherese     
Algherese-Italian Read the poem    
Russian     
English     
40.727165 8.558468
Red Marker Scottish Centre

Centre info

On 6 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Scots     
Scottish Gaelic     
Irish Gaelic Read the poem    
55.949332 -3.193825
Red Marker Senegalese Centre

Centre info

On 13 April, you can read the poem in...

Wolof
14.74208 -17.43978
Red Marker Serbian Centre

Centre info

On 4 April you can read the poem in...

Serbian
44.802416 20.465601
Red Marker Sierra Leonean Centre

Centre info

On 13 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Krio     
8.46966 -13.26589
Red Marker Slovak Centre

Centre info

On 4 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Slovak     
48.142963 17.109114
Red Marker Slovene Centre

Centre info

On 4 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Slovene     
46.05456 14.50443
Red Marker South African Centre

Centre info

On 13 April you can read and listen to the poem in...

Chichewa     
Hebrew     
Swahili     
Lingala     
French     
-34.0030082126 18.458404541
Red Marker Suisse Romand Centre

Centre info

On 7 April you can read and listen to the poem in...

French     
46.20381 6.139959
Red Marker Swedish Centre

Centre info

On 6 April you can read
and listen to the poem in...

Swedish     
Persian     
59.332788 18.064488
Red Marker Swiss German Centre